It was a news photo that, as Gawker quipped, was "ripe for captioning." A pic of Mitt Romney bending over, while a seemingly astonished schoolgirl stands behind him, mouth agape. The photograph, posted Monday by The Associated Press for all to see, has since surged across the Internet. The candidate riding a wave of confidence from last week's debate performance was suddenly made, pardon, the butt of jokes. So was it a cheap shot? Tim Graham, media analysis director at the Media Research Center, says absolutely.

Mitt Romney no longer trails Barack Obama in the Pew Research Center’s presidential election polling. By about three-to-one, voters say Romney did a better job than Obama in the Oct. 3 debate, and the Republican is now better regarded on most personal dimensions and on most issues than he was in September. Romney is seen as the candidate who has new ideas and is viewed as better able than Obama to improve the jobs situation and reduce the budget deficit. Fully 66% of registered voters say Romney did the better job in last Wednesday’s debate, compared with just 20% who...

So I've grown up in church. And everything I've read and heard preached went something like this. Israel will be in a war.. or be about to get into a war when the Antichrist comes along and makes a "peace" deal for 7 years. 3 and a half years into the deal the Antichrist breaks the deal and starts a war with Israel. Does this deception sound like "Taquia" to any of you. "Taquia" teaches Muslims that it's ok to lie to an enemy during battle. Deception, etc. I've like to hear Freepers thoughts on this. Will the Antichrist be...

Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland admitted that she provided false information Friday about the State Department's hiring of private security firms for the American mission in Benghazi attacked on September 11th: QUESTION: You also said there was no contract with a private security firm in Libya, and yet apparently some British security guards were hired. Is that your way of saying you didn’t contract with a firm but you did hire individual security guards? MS. NULAND: Thank you for that, because there was an error in what I said. The external security, external armed security, as we have been saying, outside...

According to Sharia law, if one's father is Muslim, one automatically becomes Muslim. "Most of the Muslims I know (me included) can't seem to accept that Obama is not a Muslim." Many in the media are indignant with Reverend Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Invited on "Morning Joe" last Tuesday to discuss Christian persecution, Graham was asked whether he thought President Barack Obama was Christian or not. Although Graham concluded that Obama "has said he is a Christian, so I just have to assume that he is," he appeared skeptical, suggesting Obama's policies disagreed with Christian...

A Colorado high school student quit the school choir after an Islamic song containing the lyric "there is no other truth except Allah" made it into the repertoire. James Harper, a senior at Grand Junction High School in Grand Junction, put his objection to singing "Zikr," a song written by Indian composer A.R. Rahman, in an email to Mesa County School District 51 officials. When the school stood by choir director Marcia Wieland's selection, Harper quit. "I don’t want to come across as a bigot or a racist, but I really don’t feel it is appropriate for students in a...

Resistance to a new bill aimed at limiting foreign law in Pennsylvania courts serves as a case study of how Islamists and their allies operate: peddling falsehoods about Shari'a, painting Muslims as victims, and denying that anyone seeks to institutionalize aspects of Islamic law — even as they vigorously promote that very agenda. With similar legislation being debated across the U.S., understanding their tactics is critical. At issue in Pennsylvania is House Bill (HB) 2029, which stipulates that "a tribunal shall not consider a foreign legal code or system which does not grant … the same fundamental liberties, rights and...

Hot day! Huge beat! Analysts were expecting 130K new jobs, but instead ADP just reported that there were 206K new private payrolls added in November. Also the previous month was revised up from 110K to 130K. Combine that with the big global coordinated intervention among the world's central banks, and you've got the brew for a gigantic rally today.

From Mark's website - Also, Mark gets an excellent call from a neurosurgeon who gives an inside look on what exactly Obamacare will do. For example, instead of patients, some people over a certain age will be considered, "units," as they try to dehumanize patients and the care they receive.

In part one of my analysis, A Tangled Web: Tales of Obama’s LFCOLB, I introduced you to Savannah Guthrie, who remains, so far as we know, the only member of the media who claims to have actually seen, touched, and photographed the original paper document that is said to be a certified copy of Barack Hussein Obama II’s original long-form certificate of live birth (LFCOLB). No other member of the media has come forward to say she or he has examined the document. In addition to logical inferences anyone can derive from the back-and-forth conversation during the news gaggle, Jake Tapper of ABC...

In late September 2009, ATF Phoenix Group VII supervisor Hope MacAllister walked into the Lone Wolf Trading Company. She had a message for the owner Andre Howard, according to sources familiar with the investigation into Fast & Furious in both DC and Arizona, and the message was this: "The amount of weapons you sell is about to dramatically increase." Howard, the sources say, was cautioned that "he might not have enough stock" to supply the straw buyers that MacAllister somehow knew were on the way and that "he should stock up on what they wanted." MacAllister seemed to know "exactly...

Sources tell ABC News that the president will announce today that US troops in Iraq will draw down to zero by the end of the year. A White House official says that at approximately 11:30am today, President Obama convened a secure video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to talk with him about this news.

Timing is everything. Qaddafi was not killed in retaliation for his attacks on American servicemen in Berlin in 1986, or the downing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie in 1989. He was not killed for his central role in the USSR's terror networks going back to the 1960s and 1970s. He was killed after coming over to our side of George Bush's "war on terror" in the final phase of a civil war in Libya in which his regime fought al Qaeda affiliates. Horrific as it sounds, Qaddafi was killed because we and our NATO allies joined the other side...

Last night, the Democrat-controlled Senate rejected a portion of the President’s so-called jobs plan, which would have been a mini-“stimulus” program designed to save local public employee jobs. The bill was overwhelming rejected; only gaining 50 votes. The history on local “stimulus” spending is clear: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act established the State Stabilization Fund, a $50 billion slush fund for state and local educators. Projects funded from the program ranged from providing for inflated health care costs to funding water park field trips to buying iPods and iPads for elementary school classes. As a result, 1.6 million teaching...

HENRICO, VA (WWBT) – NBC12 has uncovered one of those stories that makes you think: "How in the world does that happen?!" A truck filled with President Obama's podiums and audio equipment was stolen in Henrico just days before his visit to Chesterfield. We confirmed an investigation with the U.S. Defense Department. There are still a lot of questions. The biggest one being did the thieves intentionally target the President's truck or did they take advantage of a crime of opportunity and give a big "uh-oh" when they saw what was inside. When you see President Obama speak, there is...

Caption anyone..? U.S. President Barack Obama walks past a statue of a pig in a chef's uniform as he arrives to meet diners at the Countryside Barbecue restaurant in Marion, North Carolina, October 17, 2011. Obama began a three day bus trip to North Carolina and Virginia on Monday to promote his American Jobs Act that faces congressional approval. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS)

SCOTTS VALLEY - Dozens of people turned out Friday to say goodbye to Lintelle Engineering founder Bill Turner, who hosted a picnic for current and former staff in the company parking lot on El Pueblo Road. Lintelle, founded in 1989, was forced to close after its largest customer, Solyndra, filed for bankruptcy owing $1.9 million for equipment built by Lintelle employees. The bankruptcy filing came despite Solyndra receiving a $535 million federal loan guarantee. "It's hard to see this happen," asked Teri Stacher, 47, of Santa Cruz, who worked for Lintelle for 12 years. "We figured with the federal government...

Americans consider President Obama to be the smartest and most honest presidential candidate against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, according to a new poll, but religious groups differ on their views of the candidates' attributes. Among evangelicals, Perry scored the highest and Romney scored the lowest, though Romney tied with Obama on leadership skills. ... Catholics overwhelmingly ranked Obama higher than the other two candidates in all four categories.

Politics: The hippie horde attempting to mob and "occupy" Wall Street this week has a method to its madness. It's all about getting President Obama re-elected by employing classic Alinskyite tactics. At first glance, the latest protests staged by left-wing rent-a-mobs in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and elsewhere don't look terribly different from the World Trade Organization and global debt-amnesty spectaculars of a decade ago. Radicals swarm against some hated totem, chant, break a few Starbucks windows and leave scads of garbage for someone else to clean up. But the "Occupy Wall Street" mob that shut down the Brooklyn...

Senate Republicans tried to make Democrats hold a quick vote on President Obama's jobs-stimulus bill Tuesday, but were blocked by Senate Majority Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who is sponsoring Mr. Obama's bill but who said other matters take priority.

(Reuters) - U.S. officials have met members of the Muslim Brotherhood's political party, a U.S. diplomat said, after Washington announced it would have direct contacts with Egypt's biggest Islamist group whose role has grown since U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak was ousted.

First lady Michelle Obama says her husband deserves re-election not only for his first term accomplishments and vision for the future, but because of his genuine empathy for families dealing with tough economic times. “He understands these issues, not just because he’s smart but because he’s lived them,” Obama told a group of 100 campaign donors at a $2,500-a-plate luncheon in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. “He was raised by a single mother who struggled to put herself through school and pay the bills. And when she needed help, who stepped in? His grandmother, waking up early every morning to take a...

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a sharp rebuke of his Republican rivals, President Barack Obama said anyone who wants to be commander in chief must support the entire U.S. military, including gay service members. A combative Obama criticized GOP presidential candidates for staying silent when the crowd at a recent debate booed a gay soldier who asked a question of the contenders via videotape. "You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it's not politically convenient," Obama said during remarks at...

Megan McArdle writes in the Atlantic about the difference between government venture capital and private venture capital. By far the biggest difference is not even mentioned. There is a dramatic and critical difference between government loan guarantees and private venture capital (PVC). The PVC investor expects to make a bundle from his investment, typically by getting an equity stake and cashing out when the successful firm goes public. That’s the best case scenario for PVC. If the company fails, they’re out their seed capital. When the government gets into the venture capital business, risking your money and mine, what’s the...

With absolutely no proof of any kind of who he really is, Barack Obama made it to the Oval Office in 2008. There was no media vetting of the largely absentee senator from Illinois, who even back then had the temerity to compare himself to Abraham Lincoln. All anyone ever had to go on was an autobiographical book suspected of being ghost-written by an unrepentant domestic terrorist. We all know how it goes with politicians and autobiographical books.

A state lawmaker and a group of Democratic political donors with ties to Gov. Beverly Perdue are poised to sell land at a handsome profit for a tire plant that's being lured with $100 million in state and local incentives, according to public records reviewed by The Associated Press. As North Carolina's chief executive, the governor is a key decision maker in large incentives deals involving state money. She also helps appoint the board members of a foundation that's been asked to provide part of the tire plant's package. Perdue's campaign has received more than $52,000 from five men with...

Bloomberg reports that the FBI is investigating Solyndra for accounting fraud, according to a source close to the solar panel company. The report confirms assumptions that the Department of Justice has been looking into whether Solyndra misrepresented the company's financial situation in order to obtain — and then refinance — a $534 million loan from the federal government. We've previously written that Solyndra executives assured the administration that the company's future was bright, even as the company's internal audits showed its finances deteriorating. The company declared bankruptcy earlier this month, prompting the FBI probe, as well as two Congressional investigations.

New applications for unemployment benefits sank by 37,000 last week to 391,000 to mark the lowest level since April, but a government official suggested the surprising drop may have stemmed from a variety of "technical" issues...

Two men of Bangladeshi origin were caught by Customs and Border Protection illegally crossing the US-Mexico border last June and admitted they were members of a terrorist organization that allied with Bin Laden against America. Now, it appears at least one of those men is free after posting bail and claiming asylum. And the Department of Homeland security has no idea where he is. The information is according to a report this week by Pajamas Media, which gives some background on these suspected terrorists: “The two men, Muhammad Nazmul Hasan and Mirza Muhammad Saifuddin, were intercepted near Naco, Arizona, not...

GOP's Solyndra probe threatens to ensnare Energy Secretary ChuBy Andrew Restuccia - 09/29/11 05:00 AM ET The controversy over a $535 million loan guarantee to the now-bankrupt California solar firm Solyndra is threatening to dim the star of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a physicist and Nobel Prize winner who has rarely been thrust into the political spotlight. Republican lawmakers have set their sites on Chu, who for three years has managed to avoid being dragged into a litany of political battles waged by Republicans and the White House on energy and environmental issues. The GOP has for weeks lobbed a...

As a way to solve the national debt crisis, North Carolina Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue recommends suspending Congressional elections for the next couple of years. “I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover,” Perdue said at a rotary club event in Cary, North Carolina, according to the Raleigh News and Observer. “I really hope that someone can agree with me on that.” Perdue said she thinks that temporarily halting elections would allow members...

The Talk Shows September 25th, 2011 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): White House adviser David Plouffe; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; University of Miami President Donna Shalala; former Education Secretary William Bennett; Special Olympics chief executive officer Tim Shriver.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, head of the Democratic National Committee; Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee.THIS WEEK (ABC): Plouffe; British Prime Minister David Cameron; Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation...

Another Hawaii source with inside knowledge has asserted that Obama supporters placed a forged 1961 long-form birth certificate in the vault of the Hawaii Department of Health. Talk-radio host and former Nixon White House operative G. Gordon Liddy told WND that one of his trusted informants in Hawaii reported to him that while the document was forged recently, there may have been tampering with official Obama birth records as far back as 1978. Liddy's warning came in response to WND reports that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is mobilizing a law enforcement unit with the authority to investigate allegations that...

Barack Obama has gone to Congress asking for more money to spend. The President, in a rambling and tedious exercise mixing blame with demands, made quite a few dubious statements in laying out the case for Congress to vote for the plan which as yet does not exist. Much like Obamacare, Congress must ultimately vote for the bill to know what is in it. At one point Mr. Obama made a major gaffe; he identified Abraham Lincoln as the founder of the Republican Party. Lincoln did not join the Republicans until 1856, over two years after the party was founded....

SEOUL - A US military reconnaissance plane came under electronic attack from North Korea and had to make an emergency landing during a major military exercise in March, a political aide said Friday. The aide said the plane suffered disturbance to its GPS system due to jamming signals from the North's southwestern cities of Haeju and Kaesong as it was taking part in the annual US-South Korea drill, Key Resolve.